Many forms of poker use multiple players. Quite often in these multiple player games, the object for the player is to have a higher ranking poker hand than all of the other players. In order to participate in the game, the players make wagers which are collected in a common pot. Usually, the first wager by each player is called the Ante wager. During the play of the poker game, various betting rounds occur at which each player may make additional wagers. Players may also fold at any point in the poker game upon which the player is withdrawing from further participation in that round of the game. Poker games that have more than one betting round can result in much larger common pots.
At the end of the round of the game, the player with the best poker hand wins the pot. These multiple player poker games can be played as either draw poker games or stud poker games.
Poker can be played using community cards. A community card is a card that is shared among all of the players in the game. Typically, community cards are displayed face up in the center of the table so that all players can see the community cards.
A very popular form of poker that uses one or more community cards is the Hold 'Em format. A player initially receives one or more Hole cards which are cards unique to that player. Then a plurality of community cards are displayed during which betting rounds occur. The player with the best five card poker hand at the end of the game wins the common pot.
In Texas Hold 'Em Poker, each player receives two Hole cards and a round of betting occurs. Then three community cards (the Flop) are displayed and another round of betting occurs. Then a fourth community card (the Turn or Fourth Street) is displayed and another round of betting occurs. Finally, a fifth community card (the River or Fifth Street) is displayed and another round of betting occurs. The player with the best poker hand out of the seven cards (his two Hole cards and the five community cards) wins the common pot.
Because of the current popularity of Hold 'Em poker games, there have been attempts to adapt Hold 'Em poker to a video poker machine format.